Iron Daddy
by angel1307
Summary: Derek Jupiter was many things to many people. To his band mates he was the heart and soul of their band Iron Weasel; while to their fans he was a British heartthrob and overall Rock God.  Never in a million years could he imagine adding dad to that list.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Safe Little Assumptions

Derek Jupiter was many things to many people. To his band mates Burger Pit, Tripp Campbell, and Ash Tyler he was a friend, lead singer, and the heart and soul of their band Iron Weasel; while to their fans (and more importantly himself) he was a British heartthrob and overall Rock God. Never in a million years could he imagine adding the title of father to that list. Actually he'd never really considered the possibility, especially since with every woman he'd been with, they were always careful to use some sort of contraceptive, be it a condom, birth control, or both; that and the fact that he hadn't received any phone calls demanding child support allowed the rock star to safely assume he wouldn't be fathering any babies in the near future. Unfortunately for Derek his "safe" little assumption was about to blow up in his face.

A taxi cab pulled up in front of the Campbell residence, dropping off a young woman in the driveway. Her name was Scarlet, and for a moment she paused starring up at the house debating over weather or not what she was about to do was the right thing. "Of course it is; He deserves to know." She whispered to herself. "Besides maybe he'll be excited… Oh who am I kidding, he's going to freak when he sees me!"

Without even realizing she had moved, she found herself at the front door. From inside she could hear the muffled sounds of laughter and what she assumed was the T.V. She gazed down and began caressing her swollen abdomen. This was it, now or never. Taking a deep breath to steady her shaking hand, she knocked on the door.

"I'll get it!" someone yelled.

"The door opened and Scarlet was greeted by Iron Weasel's drummer, a tall man with wild spiked up black hair.

"Hi, my name's Scarlet Buxton. I'm looking for Derek Jupiter, is he in?"

"Wow you're really pregnant." He blurted out.

"Yes I am. Seven months _very _pregnant. It's also the reason I'm here."

"Who's at the door Ash?"

Scarlet poked her head through the door to see another man sitting on the couch. He was a husky build with medium length blond curly hair, and a blond and black goatee.

"This is Scarlet."

"Hi." Scarlet waved.

The man sprung from the couch and ran over to the door, and tried to slick back his hair. "Burger Pit, bass guitarist for Iron Weasel." He held out his hand and Scarlet shook it trying to be polite, but she really just wanted to get this over with and find Derek.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound rude but I really need to speak with Derek; Do either of you know where he is?"

"I think he's in the garage with Tripp. I'll go get him." Burger offered

"Thanks." Scarlet gave him a half hearted appreciative smile. Burger left through the kitchen to the back door, leaving Ash and Scarlet alone in awkward silence.

"So…" Ash began, "If it's alright with you could I feel your belly?"

"What?" Scarlet was a bit surprised by the forwardness of the question.

"I just wanted to feel the baby kick. I think it's such a miraculous event, and…" Ash began to ramble on trying to sound convincing enough so she'd let him.

She laughed and nodded. "Sure go ahead."

"Alright!"

Scarlet took Ash's hand and placed it where she felt the baby moving, just below her belly button. "Do you feel it?"

"Yeah; this is so awesome!"

"You know the baby will respond if you talk to it too."

"Really?" Ash got to his knee so he was eye level with Scarlet's stomach and began speaking very loudly. "WHAT'S UP LITTLE DUDE!" Expecting a response he pressed his ear up against her belly. "Ouch!" Ash jerked his head away. "It kicked me!"

Scarlet laughed. "Do you mind if I sit down?"

"Will I still be able to talk to the baby?"

"Yes."

"Awe Yeah!" Ash helped her down to the couch then sat next to her and continued to listen for the baby's response. "Ouch he –or she- kicked me again!"

For the first time since she'd stepped on the property, sitting there watching Ash play with her unborn child, she started to relax. Unfortunately any feelings of ease she may have felt were quickly crushed when she heard the sound of hurried foot steps and an enquiring British accent.

"Scarlet? Who's Scarlet?" Derek thought out loud as he, Burger, and Tripp entered the living room. However as soon as the Rock star laid eyes on the woman on the couch he immediately froze dead in his tracks. "Scarlet!"

"Hi Derek." Scarlet said timidly as she rose from the couch revealing he baby belly to him. "I think we need to talk."

Derek let out a short shriek and tried to run back to the garage, but Burger and Tripp caught him.

"I think he remembers her now!" Burger said tightening his grip on the lead singer.

"Derek calm down!" Tripp yelled.

"No way kid! Let me outta here!"

"What's the problem?"

"The problem is, the baby's his." Scarlet said quite frankly.

"What?" Burger and Tripp were so shocked, they lost their grip and Derek bolted through the kitchen door.

"So that's why the baby sounded British." Ash said. Everyone starred at him blankly.

Suddenly a loud crash came from the kitchen.

"What was that?" Scarlet asked.

"They all rushed into the kitchen and found Derek lying on the floor with a big red mark running down his face. Turns out he'd been in such a hurry to leave, that when he opened the door, he somehow managed to smash himself in the face with it, knocking himself out.

"Oh my gosh, Derek!" Scarlet knelt down beside him and tried to wake him up, but it was no use, he was out cold. "Guys help me get him on the couch."

Burger took hold of Derek's feet, while Ash grabbed his arms.

"Watch his head." Tripp warned.

"Don't worry little man, we got this." Burger replied.

"Yeah we got this." Ash repeated as the two of them shuffled into the living room. They stood in front of the couch and tried to hoist Derek up on it, but they were finding it harder than they originally thought.

"Man, unconscious people are heavy!" Ash panted.

"We just need to build up some momentum." Burger said. "On the count of three," they began swinging him from side to side. "One…"

"Geez Derek you gotta lay off the sweets." said Ash.

Suddenly Derek's eyes snapped open. "How dare-"

**THWACK!**

Not realizing Derek was awake, Ash and Burger kept swinging causing his head to connect with the coffee table, knocking him out again.

"Did you hear something?" Burger asked Ash.

"Nope"

The two of them shrugged it off and continued what they were doing. "Two… Three!" Finally they got him on the couch without any further injury.

"_Psh_, and Tripp was worried. _Watch his head!_" Burger mocked.

"Yeah look at him, not even a scratch…. Hey Burger?"

"What?"

"Was that bump on his forehead there before?"

They looked at him, them to the coffee table, then back at Derek. "Oops."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two – Witchy Woman

Scarlet sat on the edge of the couch next to Derek, slapping him lightly on the face trying to wake him up, he'd been out for an hour. "Come on Derek, wake up!" But he didn't respond. Scarlet sighed, "You know, despite the current situation, this is going better than I expected." She said to him as if he was actually listening.

Ash, Tripp, and Burger all filed into the living room.

"Still not awake yet?" Tripp asked.

"Nope, nothing; I've tried everything I can think of, but it's just not working."

"You haven't tried _everything_." Burger smiled mischievously. "Ash if you would do the honors."

"With pleasure; Scarlet you might wanna move." Ash warned, so Scarlet move over by the window on the other side of the room. Ash unscrewed the lid from the bottle of water he'd been holding and took a sip, "_Ahh_, refreshing." then casually dumped the rest on Derek's face. Immediately Derek sat up coughing and gasping for air.

"That works." Scarlet laughed

Tripp tossed Derek a towel and he began to dry himself. "Uh lads, I had the most terrible dream; I dreamt one of my old girl friends came to house."

"Why does this sound familiar?" Ash wondered out loud.

"That's not the worst part, she was pregnant!" Derek continued, "Can you imagine, me a father!" he began to laugh and so did Ash until Burger elbowed him in the side. "Why aren't you guys laughing, its funny right? What are you looking at?" He followed the gaze of his fellow weasels and looked behind him to find Scarlet. It was almost a repeat of an hour ago; he screamed and sprang towards the kitchen, except this time Burger, Tripp, and Ash pushed him back onto the couch and held him there. "Guys let me go!" He insisted.

"Sorry dude not this time." Burger said.

"Yeah man, you still gotta finish this dream."

"Ash he's not really dreaming!" Tripp explained.

"Then how come his eyes are shut?"

"Because you're still holding the water bottle and every time you point at Derek, it' sprays him in the face."

"Oh."

"Will you guys please get off of me?" Derek demanded.

The other guys looked to Scarlet to see what she wanted them to do.

"It's okay." She said.

They cautiously let Derek go, but stood around him to make sure he stayed put.

"I thought you guys were supposed to be on my side." Derek growled.

"What was that?" Scarlet asked.

Derek cleared his throat. "I said _Hello Scarlet_."

Scarlet gave him a little wave.

"So… What's new?" He asked trying to avoid the obvious. She didn't reply, instead she just looked at him as if to say _do you really need to ask?_ "Right; Guys can you give us a minute?"

Without another word, the rest of the band went into the kitchen. All Derek could do was sit there and stare at Scarlet's stomach. "How did this happen?"

"Derek, you of all people should know how this happened." Scarlet smirked.

"I know _how_ it happened; I just want to know why it happened. I thought you were on birth control."

"I was, but after you left I landed in the hospital and what ever medication I was on must have counteracted the affects of the pill."

"Are you sure it's mine?"

"I just said it happened right after you left, and you're the only guy I've ever been with."

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"I tried but I didn't know how to get in contact with you. You didn't leave a forwarding address, and you're not listed in the phone book." She explained.

"Then how did you find me?" He asked.

"I saw an episode of that reality show you guys did, Weasel World, and I recognized the street, my aunt use to live a couple houses down from here."

"That show hasn't aired for months. If you knew where I was, why did you wait?"

"I was worried you'd freak out."

"I'm freaking out now incase you haven't noticed!" He really was, because when he stood up Scarlet could see his whole body vibrating.

"I can see that, and I'm sorry. It's just – It was so early on in the pregnancy, I thought that if I told you sooner, you'd want me to get rid of it."

Derek suddenly became very serious. "Scarlet I'd never ask you to do that. I really cared about you."

"Then why did you leave me?" Scarlet exclaimed. Derek opened his mouth to respond but she cut him off. "Wait; don't answer that, I already know why. You thought I was crazy!"

The argument was beginning to escalate, but unannounced to Derek and Scarlet, three pairs of eyes were spying on them through the kitchen blinds, eagerly eavesdropping on the bickering couple.

"This is starting to get good." Burger said offering Ash and Tripp some popcorn.

"Well what was I suppose to think!" Derek shouted. "You told me you were a witch!"

"That's because I am a Witch!"

Burger and Tripp's mouths dropped. "Wow."

"Did not see that coming." Ash said a little too loudly.

Scarlet and Derek turned around. "How long have you three been eavesdropping on us? Scarlet asked.

"We weren't eavesdropping." Tripp said defensively.

"I'm just eating some popcorn." Burger replied.

"Please don't turn me into a toad!" Ash pleaded.

Scarlet rolled her eyes; "Ash I'm not going to turn you into a toad!"

"That's a relief."

"Scarlet, just ignore them," Derek said. "We're not finished talking."

"You're right." She replied. "So I'm just going to cut right to the chase. Derek, I can't raise this baby on my own. My parent's have already offered to help, but they're well into their sixties and have already raised their kids, I can't ask them to do it again with _ours_. I need you're help, and this baby is going to need its daddy."

All the color drained from Derek's face and there was a long pause. "I can't."

"What?" Scarlet felt her heart plummet from her chest to somewhere so low, for a moment she thought it had stopped.

The other three weasels were just as shocked as Scarlet was.

"Dude, not cool." Burger said.

"Yeah man, Scarlet needs you." Ash added.

"Hey get off my back! This has nothing to do with you two!" Derek rebutted. "Now I'm sorry, but I just can't do it."

This time no one tried to stop him from leaving, instead the remaining members of Iron Weasel stayed watching Scarlet sympathetically as she fought back the urge to cry and when she couldn't find the strength to fight it any longer, Ash was the first to her side. "I doubt this will help, but so far you're the nicest witch I've ever met."

"Scarlet smiled a little through the tears, "So far I'm probably the only witch you've ever met."

"Yeah you are." He smiled back.

"And you're not freaked out?"

"Well I was at first, but now that I know you're not going to turn me into a frog, we're all cool."

Tripp was at a loss for what to do or say next. He wanted to comfort Scarlet, but he didn't know where to begin, besides, Ash appeared to have things pretty under control, so he decided to go follow Derek. "I'll go talk to him."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three – Guilt Tripp

Derek sat on the couch in the garage with his head in his hands, trying to convince himself that none of this was really happening. There was no Scarlet, no baby, and in a few minutes when he went inside the house, everything would be back to normal. Unfortunately this was just a fantasy brought on by denial, Scarlet was here and in a few short months the baby would be too.

"Derek?"

He looked up and saw Tripp standing in the doorway. "Go away kid, I'm not in the mood for a lecture."

"Relax; I'm not going to give you a lecture. I just came in here to see if you were okay."

"Oh; well I'm not. How's Scarlet?" Why he even bothered to ask, Derek didn't know, he already knew the answer.

"Not good; Ash is taking care of her though."

Derek slumped back against the couch. "I can't do this kid; I'm not ready to have a _kid_! How does she expect me to take care of a baby when I can barely take care of myself?"

"I'm sure you'll figure something out. Hey I bet as soon as that comes, your parental instincts will kick in just like that." Tripp assured him, snapping his fingers.

"Kid look at me. I'm a struggling rock star living with a teenager in his mother's house, and up until a year ago I was living in a van. There's hardly a parental bone in my body. Believe me it's probably the best thing for that baby if I just don't get involved.

"So you're just going to walk out on your own baby, like you walked out on Scarlet?"

"I didn't mean for it to end like it did," Derek confessed, "I just panicked after she said what she said."

"That she's a Witch?"

"No! Kid you forget, I grew up in England, every second person over there says there a Witch, I could have cared less about that. I just used her confession to hide the real reason I left."

"Which was?"

A wave of guilt crashed over Derek's entire body. "She said she loved me."

Tripp looked at him like he had three heads. "What's so bad about that? A lot of girls tell you they love you."

"You don't understand, the way Scarlet said it was different; she meant it. At that point we'd only been dating for a couple weeks, I wasn't looking for a commitment then, and I'm absolutely not looking for one now.

Now every word coming out of Derek's mouth was just making Tripp mad. He was beginning to see a whole other side of Derek, sure he already knew he was selfish, but this time he was taking selfishness to an all new level of low, and frankly Tripp was not impressed. "Okay, now I'm going to give you a lecture. You don't have much choice of WHEN you want a commitment, because whether you like it or not that commitment was made for you the moment your ex showed up on my doorstep."

"What are you going to do about it? You can't _make_ me be a father."

"No, but I can at least make you apologize to Scarlet."

The lead singer scoffed at the guitarist. "You're kidding right?"

"No I'm not, and you're going to invite her to dinner tonight."

"And what if I don't?"

"If you don't I'll make you explain to my mom why there's a cry pregnant lady in the living room. Plus I'm willing to bet when she hears the full story, she'll feel all to happy to kick you out and take Scarlet in."

"Oh Please! She'd never kick me out. Your mother loves…" Derek stopped mid sentence and thought about what he was saying. "Fine, I'll do it, but I'm just inviting her to dinner; I'm not agreeing to anything baby related."

Meanwhile back at the house Scarlet, Ash and Burger were all gathered around the kitchen table. She'd finally calmed down and Burger insisted that she would feel much better if she ate something. He opened the refrigerator and began listing off everything inside: "Let's see, we have left over spaghetti, left over Chinese food, left over pizza, eggs, and old – actually I don't know what that is, but it's old alright."

"Um, pizza sounds good." Scarlet replied.

Burger put the pizza on a plate and popped it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. "So what are you going to do now?" He asked waiting for Scarlet's food to finish.

"I don't know. I guess I'll go back to the hotel, get my stuff and just go home. There's no point in me staying if Derek isn't going to help."

"I'll help." Ash volunteered.

Scarlet was so moved by Ash's offer, it almost brought her to tears again. "You're sweet, but it wouldn't be fair."

"I don't mind, besides I think the baby's really starting to like me."

"It's not the only one." Scarlet said patting the back of Ash's hand.

**BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.**

"Pizza's done." Burger said taking it out of the microwave.

Just then Tripp and Derek came into the kitchen, and upon seeing the pizza Derek instinctively took it, thinking it was for him. "Thanks mate, I am kinda hungry." He said taking a bite.

"Actually dude, that was for Scarlet."

Derek stopped chewing when he realized what he'd done, and then reluctantly swallowed what was in his mouth. "I knew that. I was just making sure it was warm enough." He placed the plate in front of Scarlet. "There you go, just right."

"Why are you here?" Scarlet asked

"Well, I do live here."

"No I mean, why did you come back? I thought for sure you'd stay away until I left."

Derek looked up at Tripp, who gave him a reassuring nod. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier. The kid made me see things a little differently."

"What are you saying?" Scarlet asked hopefully.

"I'm saying, that I'd like to invite you to **dinner**." He said making sure to use extra emphasis on the word dinner. "But seeing as you're already eating…"

Scarlet looked down at the half eaten piece of pizza. Seeing her lack of enthusiasm towards it, Tripp said: "How 'bout I order a new pizza?" Everyone unanimously agreed, and followed him into the living room rhyming off the toppings, everyone except for Scarlet, who stayed at the table. "Derek," she said before he passed through the swinging door.

"Yeah?"

"Are you or aren't you going to help me with this baby, yes or no, I want an answer."

Derek hesitated with his reply, and eventually said nothing, following the other into the next room.

That night Beth Campbell came home from a particularly exhausting day at the Dentist Office. Her secretary had quit, she'd been thrown up on by a seven year old, and if all of that wasn't enough, she'd been bitten by an old man! Now all she want more than anything at that moment was to have a nice quiet evening at home – well as quiet as an evening can be in a house full of Rock Stars.

"Hey guys." She yawned, picking up a pile of mail off the coffee table as she made her way to the kitchen.

"Hey Beth." Thy all replied then continued telling Tripp, who was still on the phone with the pizzeria, what toppings they wanted.

When she walked into the kitchen, she was so preoccupied sifting through bills, she had yet to notice Scarlet sitting at the end of the table.

"Hello." Scarlet said.

Beth jumped, letting out a small scream, and dropped the mail when she realized she wasn't alone. "Hello…. Who are you?" she asked trying to catch her breath.

"I'm Scarlet"

"Oh, hello Scarlet. Would you excuse me for just a second?" Beth said slipping back into the living room. "Tripp; why is there a pregnant woman in my kitchen?"

Tripp, who was now off the phone, froze, as did the rest of the band, they had yet to work out what to tell his mom once she got home and now they were forced to come up with something on the fly. "Um, a, well that's Scarlet."

"She already told me that."

"She's one of Derek's friends."

With that final comment Beth was able to put all the pieces together. "So she's _just_ a _friend?_" she asked directing the questing to Derek.

He nodded trying to keep calm and collect, but Beth's all knowing stare eventually made him break. "Alright, alright, she's slightly more then a friend, she's my ex."

The final piece came together, and Beth had solved the puzzle. "So the baby's…"

"Mine."

"Are you going to take care of it?"

"I haven't decided yet." Derek admitted solemnly.

Just then, Scarlet came into the living room. "Hey, I know Derek invited me to dinner, but I'm getting pretty tired. I should really be getting back to the hotel. Could I use your phone to call a cab?"

"You can't leave now," Ash protested. "We just ordered the pizza; I even asked if they could put some baby food on a slice for the baby. They said no, but hey it's the thought that counts, right?"

"Hunny, if you're that tired why don't you just stay here? We can send one of the guys to pick up your things." Beth offered.

"Oh I couldn't let you do that. I only came here to tell Derek about the baby, and now that he knows there's really no reason for me to stay." Scarlet said trying to sound grateful for the invitation.

"No really I insist! Besides it was _Derek's_ idea

"What!" Derek exclaimed just about to object to what was previously said. Suddenly Ash, Tripp, and Burger all elbowed him in the stomach, forcing him to change his answer. "It was." he squeaked. "Stay as long as you like."

"Really?" Scarlet asked in disbelief.

All Derek could do was nod as the pain began going all through his body.

"I don't know what to say."

"That you'll stay would be a start." Tripp said

"I'll go call the Hotel and tell them someone is coming for my things. Do you guys have a phone book?"

"In the cupboard to the left of the sink." Beth directed. She waited until Scarlet was out of earshot before turning to Derek, who was lying on the couch taking deep breaths, trying to relax. "Nice to see you're going to take some responsibility."

Derek glared at Beth. "I don't have much choice now do I?"

"Well look at it this way Derek; all that anger and frustration you're feeling right now will be great material for a new album." Tripp said looking on the brighter side of things.

Ash grabbed the van keys from the bowl on the counter. "I'll go to the hotel and get Scarlet's stuff."

"I'll go with you." Burger said.

"Me too." Derek said anxious to get out of the house,

"Oh no you don't." Beth grabbed the back of Derek's shirt. "If she's going to be staying, you're going to be doing a lot more work around here,"

"But, but."

"No buts. You can start by going up to the attic and dragging down that old cot and setting it up in you're room."

"You're really going to make Scarlet sleep on that lumpy old mattress?" Tripp asked.

"Of course not hunny…I'm going to make Derek sleep on it."

This earned her yet another glare from the lead singer, but instead of protesting, he skulked off down the hall to the attic.

Tripp gave his mom a high five, impressed that she had caught on to the whole situation, and even more impressed at how she handled Derek.

"Thanks Mom, that was really cool of you."

"Well what do you expect, I am the coolest." She gave him a little hug.

"Mom please, not in front of the guys."

"AW! Group hug!" Ash declared as he and Burger joined the hug. After a few seconds every one let go, all except for Burger, who still clung dreamily to Beth's waist.

"Um Burger?" Beth said awkwardly.

"What?"

"You can let go now.

"Sorry."


End file.
